Such hair styling instruments are known from WO-A-94/09669. Such hair styling instruments are generally used for drying and styling the hair (particularly long hair) after washing. By means of the instrument the hair is then combed and/or brushed by repeatedly moving the hair guides through the hair, from the proximal ends of the hair to the distal ends of the hair. At the same time hot air produced by a dryer unit is blown into the hair via the passages. Thus, the hair is dried during combing and brushing.
A problem which occurs during use of such hair styling instruments is that at the beginning, while the hair is still comparatively wet and tangled, it is difficult to move the instrument through the hair. As the hair becomes drier the problem arises that the shape assumed by the hair (the hair-style) is more difficult to control.
In order to provide different hair-styling facilities for users having different types of hair it is known to include various accessories in hair styling systems, which accessories may comprise hair guides or may be adapted for use in combination with combs and brushes without drying functions. However, a larger number of attachments lead to higher production, packaging and distribution costs and is annoying for the user because these attachments require storage space and changing the attachments is inconvenient. For travellers bringing along a large number of attachments is particularly inconvenient.
Moreover, hair styling instruments of another type are known, also as accessories for a hair styling system, i.e. hair styling instruments in the form of curling brushes. Curling brushes comprise hair guides which project from a circumferential surface of a substantially cylindrical housing and which, all together, are wholly retractable in order to obtain a circumferential surface without any projections. This makes it possible to first wind hair around the circumferential surface by means of the hair guides in the projecting positions, by twisting the instrument substantially about its central axis and, subsequently, once the hair has been heated, retracting the hair guides and withdrawing the housing with the fully retracted hair guides from the hair in an axial direction. Thus, curling brushes are intended specifically for curling the hair in a specific manner and do not provide a solution for problems arising from differences in the behavior between wet and drier hair.